BEWARE: Your choice could be not yours

It was only after she felt first twinges, cramps and contractions that Roselyn (name changed) set off for a maternity hospital in the city a few months ago. The delay led to a uterus rupture and the loss of life of the baby. It was later revealed that the 31-year-old pregnant woman was prompted for the same after an online session by a social media influencer.

“Online pregnancy classes by an influencer had prompted the woman to choose normal delivery, though she had a baby through C-Section earlier and normal delivery was not recommended by the doctors based on the history of the patient. Roselyn had undertaken an online session on Zoom that cost her about Rs 3,000 per hour, which suggested she attempt normal birth against medical advice. About 200 people had attended the same,” said a family member on condition of anonymity.

The case of Roselyn is not an isolated incident. Social media influencers, who might not even have any qualifications or certifications, call themselves experts in actual medical specialities and other fields and mislead the public who fall for their marketing skills.

Influencer marketing on social media has become a great source of income for some and a challenge for society as they are not bound by ethics or any laws on advertising as none exist, claim legal experts.

“There are influencers who propagate wrong information and make it difficult for healthcare professionals to convince the people into following medications and treatment procedures as per medical sciences. Some influencers could have studied or researched on certain specific subjects such as psychology or others, but these people cannot talk about other specialities, such as obstetrics or gynaecology,” says gynaecologist Arvind Santhosh, who serves at Madras Medical College.

Once an individual has enough followers, they talk about any field of medical specialisation, often leading to disastrous consequences among their followers.

In a similar case, a 27-year-old woman from Chennai undertook a skincare treatment for acne after seeing an online promotion of a beauty clinic on Instagram that also offered her a discount upon reference from an influencer.

“My skin not only developed rashes but also black pigmentation. When I went back to the clinic, they said it happened because my skin was sensitive. They did not mention any such things when I took the treatment. After about a month of medical treatment, my skin condition improved,” the victim said.

Several social media users including artists, models, fitness coaches, and actresses with about a few thousand followers to celebrities who have millions of followers are approached by different kinds of brands to promote their products and services on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, etc for a certain amount paid to them by the brand.

According to insiders, the cost of promotions ranges from about Rs 1,000 per photo or video post to Rs 3-4 lakh based on the number of followers. Being a paid activity, influencers only post positive reviews. While some of them mention such collaborations as paid promotion, others don’t mention the same and make the followers believe that they consumed a certain product or service.

Model Sharlett Riya Pius says she has been approached by quite a lot of brands to help promote their page or products, some of them being skincare products, food supplements, clothing and so on.

“Many a time, I have declined to promote them as I personally wouldn’t use or recommend such products to anyone because of their ingredients, price or side effects,” she said.

“Right now, seeing other influencers promote certain brands or pages, just for the sake of money, without any knowledge of the product or using it disappoints me. They ought to realise how many among the youth look up to them and follow what they advocate just because of their admiration for them and end up promoting a wrong product,” says Sharlett.

Influencer marketing has become a very significant tool for brands to establish their social media presence. However, there are no guidelines on what can be promoted through these platforms and what should not be as it might be misleading or wrong. Moreover, an influencer does not commit to using a product but just promotes it.

“I have worked with a lot of influencers for marketing and PR and what guides them is the money. While a few will promote a certain product or service for free, others charge as much as Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh,” says Vash Jackson, founder of Thotbox, a creative agency that specialises in digital marketing and influencer marketing.

He added that there is no association to decide on any kind of guidelines and regulations for the same. It is an individual choice and a lot of times people don’t even use or like the product they promote. Very few people think of what to promote and what not to; the rest are happy as long as they get the money,” says Vash.